The holidays are here, and with them comes a curious paradox. We're more connected than ever before. Streaming a movie on one screen, gaming on another, texting on a third, while our smartwatch buzzes with yet another notification. Yet somehow, we've never felt more disconnected from the people actually sitting next to us.
For teens and young adults especially, this multi-screen reality isn't occasional, it's the default. If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many teenagers are watching a YouTube video on their PC in one screen, playing a highly interactive first person shooter game on the other screen, wearing a headset connected to Discord where they're chatting with friends, all while Netflix plays in the background "just for noise." Four screens, zero presence.
Just as a gardener monitors soil conditions and adjusts water, light, or nourishment accordingly, we must notice when our mind and body are poorly positioned, when our internal equilibrium is neglected, or when we're missing the care needed to fulfill our potential.
This month, we're talking about screen downsizing—not as punishment, but as permission. Permission to slow down, to reconnect, and to rediscover the analog joys that got lost somewhere between our first smartphone and our current screen addiction.
Because here's the truth: the people you love don't need your divided attention. They deserve your full presence. And so do you.
It's my hope that during this holiday season, we can truly disconnect and provide our full presence to our loved ones and friends.
From all of us at Healthtek—Happy Holidays,
Yon Hardisty
In this issue:
The Cognitive Cost of
Split-Screen Living
Discord, Steam, and the
Social Media Illusion
The Art of Monotasking:
Rediscovering Deep Engagement
EOY:
Closing Thoughts
Our Technical Roots
Increase Engagement & Creativity
Did you know that Healthtek began as a gaming company decades ago and we are still making games. Why? Because our roots started in gaming and it's a big part of how we keep healthcare technology innovative. In early Q1 of 2026, we are going to relaunch Binx games to not only keep our competitive edge, but to continue to focus on engagement, creativity, and innovation.
Take a sneak peak into this fun, indie game called Bouncy Bean where players drop a bean into a play-field of ingredients to tumble down to gather everything needed to make a hot bowl of soup.
Remember when multitasking was considered a superpower? Turns out, our brains aren't actually capable of processing multiple streams of complex information simultaneously—we just switch between tasks really quickly, and not particularly well.
Research shows that this constant task-switching comes at a significant cognitive cost. When teens juggle multiple screens, they're not experiencing four times the engagement, they're experiencing fractured attention that prevents deep processing of any single activity. The result? Increased anxiety, decreased retention, and a persistent feeling of mental fog.
The mental health implications are particularly concerning. When young people maintain constant digital connectivity across multiple platforms, they're essentially training their brains to expect continuous stimulation. The moment one screen becomes even slightly boring, they reach for another. This pattern doesn't build resilience—it erodes it, creating a dependency on external stimulation that makes quiet moments feel unbearable rather than restorative.
While Healthtek is a technology company, which equates to lots of screen time, we also participate in many non-profit endeavors like Forestr and LivWell Partners to keep ourselves grounded.
Why It Matters: Your brain needs downtime to consolidate memories, process emotions, and restore cognitive resources. When every waking moment is filled with digital input, you're essentially running your mental processor at maximum capacity with no chance to cool down. That's not productivity—that's a recipe for burnout.
The Practical Shift: Start with awareness. For one day, simply notice how many screens you're using simultaneously. Don't judge it, just observe. Most people are shocked to discover they're rarely giving any single activity their full attention. That awareness is the first step toward intentional change.
Don't Miss!
Wellness Wednesday's
Where
Twitch
When
Every Wednesday at 9 AM PT
Connect
Online (Twitch)
With Counselor
Bev
Join us at 9:00 A.M. PT for Wellness Wednesday, where we help individuals cultivate mindfulness, relaxation, and focus. It's free to join, and we encourage everyone to offer this opportunity to your clients.
The holiday season is often described as joyful, cozy, and full of meaning. But behind the lights and celebrations, many people experience pressure — to plan, to host, to give, to show up, and to make everything feel special. Add social media into the mix, and the holidays can start to feel less about genuine connection and more about measuring whether we’re doing enough.
For many young people, their primary social life happens through Discord servers, Steam friends lists, and group chats. And while there's genuine connection happening in these digital spaces—don't discount it—something essential gets lost in translation. The subtle facial expressions, the shared laughter in real space, the comfortable silences that build intimacy—these can't be replicated through a headset, no matter how high the audio quality.
The challenge isn't that digital connection is inherently bad. It's that when it becomes the default—or worse, the only—mode of socializing, young people miss out on developing crucial interpersonal skills. They might be expertly coordinating raid strategies with a team of twelve online, but struggle to maintain eye contact during a simple conversation with a peer in the cafeteria.
During the holidays, when families gather and friends return home from college, we have a golden opportunity to practice what we might call "high-bandwidth" communication—the kind that happens when you're fully present with another human being, reading not just their words but their entire emotional landscape.
The Reality Check: If you're spending more time on Discord than in actual conversation with people you care about, your social life isn't rich, it's just loud. There's a difference.
The Invitation: This month, challenge yourself to one device-free social interaction per day. Coffee with a friend without checking your phone. Dinner with family where everyone's device stays in another room. A walk with a sibling where conversation, not content, is the entertainment. Notice what you discover about the people you thought you already knew.
Disconnect, pause, and connect to the present reality. Repeat often even if it means leaving your phone at home on date night, running to the store, or going on a walk.
Trust me, it works wonders for your brain.
The Art of Monotasking: Rediscovering Deep Engagement
Somewhere between the Nokia brick phone and the iPhone 17, we forgot what it feels like to do just one thing at a time. Not because we're busy, we've always been busy, but because we've been conditioned to believe that single-focus engagement is somehow insufficient.
The irony? The most meaningful experiences of your life such as falling in love, creating something you're proud of, having a conversation that changes your perspective, all require exactly what we've trained ourselves out of: sustained, undivided attention.
Monotasking isn't about restriction. It's about reclaiming the intensity and satisfaction that comes from full immersion. When you watch a movie without simultaneously scrolling Instagram, you actually remember the plot. When you have a conversation without mentally composing your next text, you form genuine connection. When you read a book without "background" videos playing, you retain what you read.
For young people who've grown up in the age of infinite scrolling, this might sound impossibly boring. But here's the secret: boredom isn't the enemy—it's the doorway. Every creative breakthrough, every moment of genuine insight, every memory worth keeping starts with the willingness to sit with one thing long enough to actually experience it.
The Practice: Choose one activity today to do with complete focus. Just one. Read a chapter without music. Watch an episode without your phone. Have a meal without screens. Yes, it will feel strange at first. Your hand will literally reach for your phone out of habit. Notice that impulse, smile at it, and let it pass. What remains on the other side of that discomfort is something increasingly rare: the experience of being fully alive to the present moment.
Pro Tip for Parents: Model this behavior. Your teens won't believe monotasking is valuable if they watch you respond to emails during family dinner. Be the change you want to see in their screen habits.
Closing Thoughts
Screen downsizing isn't about returning to some imaginary pre-digital paradise. Technology has given us incredible tools for connection, creativity, and growth. But like any tool, it's meant to serve us, not the other way around.
Healthtek has been a mighty team of technocrats for over twenty years. We know that our technology is used all around the world for the betterment of humankind and we're humbly thankful that you, our reader, may be on that list of people who trust our technology. Even we make an effort to unplug and disconnect from our devices. This is the truth. It's hard, but we do it for our own sanity.
This holiday season, give yourself and the people you love the gift that's increasingly rare: your full, undivided, present attention. Put down the second screen. Close the unnecessary tab. Turn off the notifications. And notice what happens when you're actually here, in this moment, with these people.
Because life isn't happening on your screen. It's happening right in front of you, waiting for you to look up and notice.
I will talk to you soon in January. Time to disconnect.
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